This blog continues the series of studies looking at references to the Garden(s) of Paradise, as depicted in the Qur’an. Our last blog on this matter was on December 22. The next relevant passages are from Surah 18, namely 29-31, 105-108 (Yusuf Ali):
29-31:
Say, “The truth is from your Lord”: Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): for the wrong-doers We have prepared a Fire whose (smoke and flames), like the walls and roof of a tent, will hem them in: if they implore relief they will be granted water like melted brass, that will scald their faces, how dreadful the drink! How uncomfortable a couch to recline on!
As to those who believe and work righteousness, verily We shall not suffer to perish the reward of any who do a (single) righteous deed.
For them will be Gardens of Eternity; beneath them rivers will flow; they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade: They will recline therein on raised thrones. How good the recompense! How beautiful a couch to recline on!
105-108:
They are those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall We, on the Day of Judgment, give them any weight.
That is their reward, Hell, because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My Messengers by way of jest.
As to those who believe and work righteous deeds, they have, for their entertainment, the Gardens of Paradise, Wherein they shall dwell (for aye): no change will they wish for from them.
29-31:
Those who hear the Qur’an must accept it as the Truth, delivered by Allah. Allah has prepared the Fire of Hell for those who reject the Qur’an. In that state if they ask any relief from Allah he will respond by intensifying their torment. By contrast, Allah will reward those who accept the Qur’an and do what it requires of them (“work righteousness”), not overlooking the slightest observance of the Qur’an. For those who do what the Qur’an requires await the well-watered Gardens of Eternity, where the Muslims who enter will be dressed like kings as they sit on their elevated thrones.
105-108:
To reject the “signs” (ayat) is to reject the Qur’an [Maulana: “messages”; Pickthal / Rashad / Sarwar: “revelations”; Shakir: “communications”] and its teaching as relayed by Allah’s messengers. There are those who deny or disbelieve in the Qur’an and don’t accept that by observing it they will ultimately meet Allah in the hereafter. Given this none of the good things they try to do will have any value in Allah’s sight. Some translators believe ayah 105 is saying that on the Day of Resurrection Allah will not even bother to weigh their deeds on the scale (e.g. Maulana, Shakir), because there is effectively nothing to put on the side where good deeds would be weighed. Because such people have treated the Qur’an and Allah’s messengers with contempt – and, presumably, rejection of Muhammad himself is primarily in view – they will be rewarded with Hell.
As in ayat 29-31, those who work righteousness are those who believe in the Qur’an and its teaching as relayed by Allah’s messengers (supremely, Muhammad) so that the works of righteousness are those acts performed in compliance with the Qur’an. That is, it is the Qur’an itself that defines what constitutes a work of righteousness or not. Those who do what the Qur’an requires will be richly blessed in the Gardens of Paradise and will never want to leave.
Much of what is said in these verses merely repeats what we have noted in prior blogs. In Islam believing the Qur’an leads to self-dependence as the Muslim endeavours to live up to what is required of him in the Qur’an. By contrast, believing the Gospel leads to sole dependence on the work of Christ for one’s salvation, with works of righteousness as the outworking of the experience of God’s grace in one’s life.
Posted February 9, 2010
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